Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Sky Light Iris




In the previous posting I mentioned that I did a lot of flower paintings during the early 1990s. Here is one of the better ones. I did a lot of irises. Why irises? Because they're so beautiful, and I had access to a number of iris gardens. I took loads of flower photographs. Irises come in every color except bright red, though I've seen dark red. My iris and other flower paintings were quite popular. I would add fantasy elements like tiny fairies or magical glows, or space imagery like nebulas and stars. They were all very pretty pictures.

I don't feel so pretty nowadays, 18 years later. I just don't want to paint pretty pictures. I'm more interested in the grotesque these days, and I've seen a lot of it just lately in places like deviantART. But my clients and my friends love my pretty art, not my grotesque or weird art. You probably don't want to see any grotesque stuff from me either. Art should be beautiful and spiritually uplifting! Or at least entertaining and colorful, or cute. Forget about those monsters and misshapen figures and haunted ruins and hellish vistas. Be good. Be pretty. Be nice.

"Sky Light Iris" is watercolor on illustration board, 10" x 7", fall 1992.

2 comments:

Mike (Altus) said...

I'm one who wants to see monsters.

Tristan Alexander said...

I love Iris' and this is nice. Personaly, I say paint what you want and if you do it right even monsters can be beautiful! I have seen dead birds and other not normaly "pretty" things painted in such a way as to show beauty, so go for it!